jea 02 David Kahn
Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations David Kahn watches his team take on the Charlotte Bobcats in the first period of Wednesday's game at the Target Center in Minneapolis, January 5, 2010.
(Pioneer Press: John Autey)

After being noncommittal about whether he would keep Kurt Rambis as coach, Timberwolves president of basketball operations David Kahn touched on several items related to his underachieving team during a 38-minute news conference on the final day of another dismal Wolves season. At one point, Kahn contended the Wolves had more talent than when he took over in May 2009. In a room loaded with media members, more than a few eyebrows were raised.

Asked if he truly believes there is more talent than when he arrived, Kahn said, ‘I don’t know. A show of hands?’

Hands weren’t shooting up. So a few seconds later, he said again, “A show of hands?”

Only a hand or two was up. “I guess not, then,” Kahn said. “I guess this maybe isn’t a group that feels comfortable, but I do. I do.”

After his news conference, I asked Kahn a few more things about his team.

BS: You used to be a sportswriter. What would your lead be on this season?

DK: I was the kind of sportswriter that would obsess and sit there in front of my computer until I felt I had the perfect lead. You’re asking me as I walk out of the room. That wasn’t how I did it. I always was the guy last on deadline. You can ask the editors. I always was the guy who was the last to file.

BS: So it wouldn’t be an obvious lead to you?

DK: Exactly. I’d sit there and I’d write something and I wouldn’t like it. Then I’d rewrite it. So you’re asking me to do something I was never able to do.

BS: As a sportswriter, you had a way of getting to the point. So capsulize why your team is so bad.

DK: We are terrible defensively, and we throw the ball all over the yard.

BS: Is that a coaching issue or is that a player issue?

DK: That’s what needs to be thought about, discussed. There’s a process. So I don’t know. I don’t know.

BS: When you look at the win total, is it embarrassing?

DK: I will say it’s distressing and troubling. I don’t know if I feel embarrassed, but it is very upsetting, distressing and troubling.

BS: What could you have done more to help Rambis? Do you look at yourself and say, “I should have done this.” Or, “I could have done this.”

DK: Of course. Hour to hour, I think about this, that and the other. But it feels wrong to plumb into that. It’s not fair to him.

BS: Do you play golf?

DK: No.

BS: But you know what a mulligan is?

DK: Of course.

BS: What would be your mulligan for the time you’ve been here?

DK: Well, it’s hard. A lot of people would understandably have focused on the (Jonny) Flynn bit. I don’t so much think (Ricky) Rubio as the Flynn bit because of the way it has all come out with Jonny being hurt and all that. One, we didn’t know Jonny was hurt. (Rubio and Flynn, both point guards, were the fifth and sixth players selected in the 2009 NBA draft. Flynn had hip surgery last summer and didn’t begin to play until mid-December.) And the second part is, there has been the argument made, and sometimes viciously, that, “Well, the coach should have been hired by the draft.” The problem was, I was hired in (late) May. Kevin (McHale) was still the coach. I hadn’t been in the league that year. We just didn’t have time to do that. Would that have been preferable? Absolutely. We just didn’t have bandwidth to do that. It became difficult. I still believe Jonny will be a very fine player in this league. He’s 22.

BS: Did you imagine after two years that you’d have the worst record in the league?

DK: I never anticipated it would be like that this year, especially if you saw the way the team played in November, December, January. You would especially have said, “No.”

BS: When McHale was here, there was anger among the fans. I sense more apathy now.

DK: I think you’re off base. I’m not going to say we have revitalized basketball here. But I think, based on what I saw last year, I felt more apathy. I felt this year there were many vibrant home crowds.

BS: That’s because of Kevin Love, though, isn’t it? (Love’s double-double streak of 53 consecutive games was the NBA’s longest since the 1973-74 season.)

DK: No, I disagree with that. No, I don’t think it was all Kevin. In the first half of the season, people were really starting to embrace Michael (Beasley). I felt the crowd really helped Darko (Milicic) fight through those first few weeks when he couldn’t make a shot, and (fans) became sort of enamored with his story. I don’t want to take anything away from Kevin in saying that. I think there’s no doubt that what Kevin did achieve this year was helpful to the entire organization, especially these last, say, seven, eight weeks. But I don’t think it’s all about him. I think there are a lot of very good things bubbling here.

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